The first time I had amaretti cookies was in the Piazza San Marco in Venice. I stumbled upon a small cart selling a variety of ornate confections.

Amongst all the tinsel and colorful sugar my eyes were drawn to a small cellophane bag tied with a small bit of gold ribbon. In it were little pale cookies that looked ordinary but enticing nonetheless.

When opened the bag released a heady perfume that overtook me and those around me. Its sweet almond aroma always takes me back to the Piazza and its surrounding cobbled streets and bridges.

Amaretti are little cookies that are light as a feather, yet have an intense sweet almond flavor. They’re airy, delicate, and oh so simple to make!

This amaretti cookie recipe takes no more than 4 minutes to put together and they bake quickly.

They taste fantastic on their own, but I’ve also been known to grind them up into a powder and add it to flavor pumpkin bread in lieu of cinnamon and spices, or add them to the batter of vanilla cakes or pancakes to give it depth in flavor.

Method

2 Make the dough: In a food processor pulse together the almond flour and sugar. Add the vanilla and almond extract and pulse for a few seconds. Add the eggs, one at a time, and continue to process until the dough is smooth.

3 Dollop dough onto lined baking pan, dust with sugar: Place teaspoons of the dough on the parchment paper-lined baking sheet and dust with sugar.

4 Bake: Bake at 300°F for 24-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool completely before serving.

They will be slightly chewy at first, but they will be nicely crispy as a day or two goes by.

Store in a cool, dry place. (Note: I usually under-bake mine since I like them chewy. If that's your preference, bake them for about 20-24 minutes.)

Hello! All photos and content are copyright protected. Please do not use our photos without prior written permission. Thank you!

Garrett McCord is a professional writer and recipe developer whose work has appeared in many print and online publications such as Gourmet Live, Saveur, Huffington Post, Smithsonian, and NPR. Past clients also include numerous food companies, wineries, and distilleries. Garrett writes about cocktails on his website, Coupe de Grace.

These are the best amaretti cookies I’ve ever made. We made the original recipe which is unbelievably delicious and then adapted the recipe to accommodate someone who has diabetes in our household using swerve (must use less – it’s not cup for cup) instead of sugar and they too were a huge success!

I just tried these replacing the sugar with 1/2 cup Splenda and 1/2 cup xylitol. Used liquid egg whites and no almond extract- didnt have any. They turned out okay. Dense in the middle, but soft—- they are still warm! Didnt brown a lot even tho I did the full 30 minutes.For the first try, I am happy. Next time I will try beating egg whites first and maybe replacing half the sugar instead or use a Splenda baking blend. So simple.

These were so delicious and easy to make. I had been in Italy and bought some Amaretti cookies there, and needed to make my own! I didn’t have a food processor, so used a blender, and that worked fine. These are addictive!

Loved how easy these cookies are made! I just made them for an Italian-themed dinner we have.I used sliced almonds, because that was what I had, but loved the texture that came out. I used 4 cups of sliced almonds, 1 3/4 sugar and 4 egg whites. I beat the whites separately and folded the almond mixture after.I also forgot to sprinkle the sugar on the first batch :$, but I liked how they came out, better than the ones that had the sugar.Came out very tasty and my kids and hubby loved them as well.I’ll post my photo with your hashtag on Instagram, after the dessert is assembled (gelato, amaretti cookies and a little raspberry balsamic on top).

I am hoping these cookies can be baked and then left a couple of days (not sure if I can cope?) and then ground and sprinkled on a variety of treats? That’s what we do with our Lazaronni amaretties…grind/sprinkle on grilled peaches/nectarines and then, a drizzle of Amaretto de Saronno. A summer sensation!
Also, sprinkled on any type of pudding/tapioca/whatever. Wonder how long they would take to get hard enough to grind or hammer in a plastic bag..which is how we process here? Thoughts?

Just made these today… Fabulous!! Marzipan is like my favorite food and these taste like it! I added an extra half teaspoon of almond extract which helped achieve that super-almondy flavor. For the sugar, I used the Domino quick-dissolve kind, for making iced tea and cocktails. It’s superfine and I imagine it’s pretty much the same as “baker’s sugar,” which I could not find. So easy to make and absolutely delicious, thank you so much!!

You are right – these are quick – in 45 mins I was eating one warm from the oven. I did not use the food processor nor the fine sugar. There have been discussions about using apricot kernal flour. I just love the flavour of almonds and apricots. While I was searching for amaretti recipes, I found one that mentioned including apricot preserves so I added 3 tablespoons to the batter. They came out wonderful. Although I like my cookies crisp (well done) I loved the soft and chewy texture. I stored them in a jar that kept them soft for the week. You can find almond flour at Trader Joes.

Oh! This is absolutely delicious! As a matter of fact, I’m typing this with one hand, and holding a piping hot cookie in the other. I couldn’t wait to try them! The almond flavor is absolutely amazing! This is a must-try!

I made these cookies last week and they are very good but I have never made cookies in my Cuisinart food processor and it was a total mistake. I followed the recipe but when I added the eggs my Cuisinart started smoking and I thought it was going to start a fire. The dough was so sticky that I think it bogged down the motor. So as I said yes, delicious cookies but at the price of my beloved food processor I don’t think it was worth it.

I find it hard to believe this dough could ever do that to a food processor. I would check the machine and see if it is malfunctionining. ~Garrett

This recipe is excellent. I always double the batch as they are a family favorite, plus an office favorite.
To add to the look and taste, I roll the top half of the teaspoon of cookie dough into sliced almonds. I flatten cookie with back of spatula and then drizzle with honey before baking. I bake for 21 minutes.
My daughter who lived in Troy, New York for a year said that these cookies were as good as the almond horns at Bella-Napoli!